Quality of life and adjustment in men with prostate cancer: Interplay of stress, threat and resilience.

Purpose: Diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer can generate many challenges which impact on adjustment, so understanding the psychosocial factors which contribute to individual vulnerability to poor adaptation warrants further investigation. This study investigates stress and masculine identity threat as predictors of quality of life and emotional adjustment in men with localized prostate cancer and the role of resilience as a potential protective psychological factor.

Methods: Participants were invited to complete a survey study via online prostate cancer forums.

Information Literacy Advocates: developing student skills through a peer support approach.

Since 2013/2014, an Information Literacy Advocates (ILA) scheme has been running at the University of Nottingham as an extracurricular module on the Nottingham Advantage Award programme. The Information Literacy Advocates scheme, which recruits medicine and health sciences students in their second year or above, aims to facilitate development of information literacy skills and confidence, as well as communication, organisation and teamwork, through the provision of peer support. Previous research indicates peer assistance effectively enhances such skills and is valued by fellow students who welcome the opportunity to approach more experienced students for help.

Post-traumatic growth in breast cancer: how and when do distress and stress contribute?

Objective: While several theoretical models provide explanation for the genesis and development of post-traumatic growth (PTG) in the aftermath of stressful events, empirical evidence regarding the predictors and consequences of PTG in breast cancer patients in active treatment and early survivorship is inconclusive. This study, therefore, examines the role of distress and stress as predictors and outcomes of PTG in women with breast cancer over an 18-month period.

Methods: These effects are tested in two structural equation models that track pathways of PTG in a sample of 253 recently diagnosed women.

The effect of mode of detection of breast cancer on stress and distress.

Objective: The number of women with screen-detected breast cancer is increasing, but it is not clear if these women experience the same levels of distress as women with symptomatic breast cancer. The current study compared stress and distress in women with screen-detected or symptomatic breast cancer at diagnosis and 12 months post-diagnosis.

Methods: Ninety-two women with screen-detected breast cancer and 129 women with symptomatic breast cancer completed measures of perceived stress, anxiety, and depression at diagnosis and 12 months post-diagnosis.

Stress and self-efficacy predict psychological adjustment at diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the most frequently non-skin cancer diagnosed among men. Diagnosis, a significant burden, generates many challenges which impact on emotional adjustment and so warrants further investigation. Most studies to date however, have been carried out at or post treatment with an emphasis on functional quality of life outcomes.

Experience of breast cancer: burden, benefit, or both?

Background: Transactional models of stress emphasize the role of appraisal of stress in adjustment to illness. The current qualitative study uses this framework to explore the subjective response to these stressors in women with breast cancer. Reappraisals or opportunities for growth from the experience are also examined.

Factors influencing adherence among Irish haemodialysis patients.

Objective: Adherence to dietary and fluid restrictions among haemodialysis patients with end stage renal failure (ESRD) is a multi-factorial concept. This study seeks to assess the predictive value of demographic and psychological variables in non-adherence.

Methods: A multi-centre cross sectional design assessed 50 haemodialysis patients on self reported adherence, attitudes towards dietary restrictions, quality of life, depression and anxiety.

Cognitive-behavioural stress management enhances adjustment in women with breast cancer.

Objective: This randomized controlled trial examines whether a briefer cognitive-behavioural (CBT) stress management intervention than the norm can reduce stress and distress and enhance benefit finding in women with breast cancer. It further aims to identify characteristics of those women most likely to benefit from the intervention.

Design And Method: A randomized controlled trial was conducted to assess the efficacy of a psychological intervention.

Global stress predicts both positive and negative emotional adjustment at diagnosis and post-surgery in women with breast cancer.

Objectives: Individual differences in stress appraisal, coping, optimism and social support have contributed to variability in adjustment to breast cancer, but less is known about their relative influence particularly at diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to compare the predictive role of these variables on both positive and negative adjustment in a sample of recently diagnosed women.

Method: Data was collected from 241 women at diagnosis and post-surgery (4 months later).

Anaphylaxis: how do you live with it?

This article reports on a study of the needs of families coping with life-threatening allergies in a child. Due to the scarcity of publications on the psychosocial dimensions of anaphylaxis, the authors draw on selected literature on family coping with chronic illness, asthma, and allergy to provide a conceptual context for the research and discussion of findings. Using qualitative methodology, parents from 17 families were interviewed about their experiences adjusting to a diagnosis of anaphylaxis in a child.

Psychological stress as a predictor of psychological adjustment and health status in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

This study examined the extent to which perceived stress, social support, coping and clinical disease indicators predict physical, psychological and social adjustment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Participants were 59 women recruited at an outpatient clinic at University College Hospital, Galway. A range of psychological measures was administered and disease status was assessed by physician ratings of joint involvement and blood assays of inflammatory indices.

Anxiety levels in women attending a colposcopy clinic: a randomised trial of an educational intervention using video colposcopy.

A video colposcopy allows the real-time images viewed by the doctor performing the examination to be viewed by patients on a television monitor during the consultation. Eighty-one women (requiring either laser treatment or a normal recheck) were randomly assigned to either the video intervention group or the control group. A significant decrease in state anxiety was observed from one visit to the next in all patients (P = 0.